A common arrangement in vehicle washing systems includes overhead racks that support vertically disposed cleaning strips made of cloth or other suitable material. In one type of system, the vehicle moves past the cleaning strips while the rack (s) reciprocate causing the strips to frictionally engage the vehicle at various points along its length. While the vehicle moves, the strips and/or the vehicle are sprayed with cleaning fluid or a rinse solution. One such system in which the vehicle moves while the main frame of the washing apparatus remains stationary is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,866 to Belanger. Another type of vehicle washing system, often called a roll over system, is one in which the vehicle remains stationary while an arch-shaped frame of the washing apparatus moves over and along the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,284 to Schleeter discloses one example of such system. The mobile frame traverses a track that is secured to the floor. As the frame moves along the track and over the length of the car, racks with cleaning strips depending therefrom are reciprocated back and forth to engage and clean the vehicle.
In both the stationary and roll over systems described above, the reciprocating action of cleaning strips is confined to a vertical plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. In these systems, the cleaning strips depending from the racks are always in the vehicle path and obstruct the view through the vehicle washing apparatus. This situation makes it difficult to drive the vehicle accurately into or through the washing apparatus.